skatingtripods wrote:Acta's been dicking around with Pestano's workload so much that he's not real sharp from outing to outing. That could come back to bite us in the ass if he comes in with a one-run lead anytime soon.

Likely why he's in there getting work today. And he has 23 appearances. They use him in high leverage situations whenever possible and there haven't been many the last week. You can let him work today and not worry about needing him tomorrow. Not the case in Chicago this past weekend.

Doug Fister back to the DL. Indians have to find a way to stay above water for a while. The White Sox are not as good of a team as they've been playing and the Tigers shouldn't outhit bad pitching enough to win the division.

Indians have to get back to playing good baseball. Two off days sandwiching this Twins series should help. They're just out of gas, specifically the starters. Nobody has pitched on an extra day of rest all month.

A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe

With the team the Tribe has cobbled together right now (AA player, a bunch of AAA call-ups, a few has-beens and a never-was or two) I'm amazed that they are still (and, perhaps, momentarily) above .500. Gotta beat the crap out of the Twinkies this weekend...

I've tried 'em all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball.~~~Annie Savoy-"Bull Durham"

skatingtripods wrote:Doug Fister back to the DL. Indians have to find a way to stay above water for a while. The White Sox are not as good of a team as they've been playing and the Tigers shouldn't outhit bad pitching enough to win the division.

Indians have to get back to playing good baseball. Two off days sandwiching this Twins series should help. They're just out of gas, specifically the starters. Nobody has pitched on an extra day of rest all month.

Agreed. As long as the Indians don't completely ass end off the map, they should be able to get back into first place relatively soon. The White Sox are where the Indians were last year at this time. They are playing much better than they are, and that team will come back to Earth sooner rather than later.

Just be glad this little losing streak is happening now and not in September.

Not that everything since the Tigers' series has put me in a good mood or anything.

Perhaps you can get on Jose Lopez for swinging at that first pitch. If you believe that, well, that's a problem for today.

The problem for tomorrow and beyond is simply that it's Jose Lopez.

Look, this is a team that's hitting minor leaguers 4th and 5th - and that was before the injury to Hafner that very dead man (excluding the Tribe front office apparently) knew was coming.

Enough worrying about Doug Fister. With the product it looks like they are gonna run out there the next several months....I mean, a rotation being lead by Jeanmar Gomez and Josh Tomlin should give a shit about Doug Fister. And there's a good bet Doug Fister's replacement would fit right in here, and there's even a better chance that replacment will be better than Ulbaldo Jiminez.

Here's the analysis - they aren't getting every two out hit like they've done for two Aprils, and all of those "ifs" that were talked about pre-season, well those "ifs" are landing about where the odds take them to every year.

LP, I generally like your posts and like your realistic view, but for christ sake, what's the point in following if you're just going to constantly remind us that everything's going to go up in flames?

I'm fully aware that Jose Lopez sucks. There are at least 12-14 guys on this team who are below average baseball players and are going to continue to be. I think most of us know that.

There's nothing wrong with being optimistic or looking at the bright side with things like Doug Fister if you're fully prepared to be disappointed at the end of the season. Everybody who is a fan tries to put together the best-case scenario that gives this team a chance to compete with a lot of "what ifs" and blind hope.

Nobody, except maybe Prosecutor, expects miracles from this season or expects the Indians to make chicken salad from chicken shit. That said, most of us are trying to do what we can to turn a blind eye to the problems on the team and instead look at what could happen to allow them to compete. I don't see many people around here going all rainbows and unicorns. We just want something to enjoy and distract us from everyday life. If we keep dwelling on how much Shelley Duncan and Ubaldo Jimenez suck, it's no different than dwelling on how most of the day-to-day things about life suck.

Yeah, they're not a good team. So what? The Central has five not good teams in it.

I'm just saying.

A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe

skatingtripods wrote:LP, I generally like your posts and like your realistic view, but for christ sake, what's the point in following if you're just going to constantly remind us that everything's going to go up in flames?

I'm fully aware that Jose Lopez sucks. There are at least 12-14 guys on this team who are below average baseball players and are going to continue to be. I think most of us know that.

There's nothing wrong with being optimistic or looking at the bright side with things like Doug Fister if you're fully prepared to be disappointed at the end of the season. Everybody who is a fan tries to put together the best-case scenario that gives this team a chance to compete with a lot of "what ifs" and blind hope.

Nobody, except maybe Prosecutor, expects miracles from this season or expects the Indians to make chicken salad from chicken shit. That said, most of us are trying to do what we can to turn a blind eye to the problems on the team and instead look at what could happen to allow them to compete. I don't see many people around here going all rainbows and unicorns. We just want something to enjoy and distract us from everyday life. If we keep dwelling on how much Shelley Duncan and Ubaldo Jimenez suck, it's no different than dwelling on how most of the day-to-day things about life suck.

Yeah, they're not a good team. So what? The Central has five not good teams in it.

I'm just saying.

Well, if everyone is looking at the season with "blind hope," than yes, my posts are useless.

This isn't the case, however, proven time and time again on these boards, which is to the point of my posts.

Guys, our bats are fine. I hate to break that to people, but it's true. We're not exactly gonna set any records, but we've been scoring plenty of runs. Even today, we got 3, which is not a lot below an average MLB score, and that's a low score for us.

The problem is starting pitching. And that's pretty much the only real problem we have vis a vis reaching the playoffs.

The good news is that there's no way our starters can continue to be this horribly bad. They would set records if they stayed this bad. If they can figure it out just a little bit, we'll be flawed but fine, just like every other team in baseball not called the Rangers.

leadpipe wrote:Well, if everyone is looking at the season with "blind hope," than yes, my posts are useless.

This isn't the case, however, proven time and time again on these boards, which is to the point of my posts.

The overriding point is that we all know Jose Lopez, Shelley Duncan, et al, are stiffs. That's not some giant secret. Sorry I expected a guy with 3,700 career ABs to force a guy to throw a strike when 12/20 pitches were balls, including 11 of the last 12.

All I'm wondering is why you still give a shit enough to pay attention and/or watch if the team is so horrible?

A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe